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Athletes and Taxes

Boxing Superstar Manny Pacquiao plans on taking his next fight on November 24th to China because of the would-be near 40% federal income tax if the fight took place in the United States. Americans for Tax Reform reported that Manny will save $5.5 million by using a venue in Macau, China and $3.9 million in Singapore, Indonesia. This may appear to be greed, by leftists but it shows that in general people will migrate and invest in places that offer a higher incentive to conduct business. If the United States is to be viable option for future international sporting events, they’ll need to seriously consider lowering the federal income tax level to a rate that draws athletes in – not out.

Mike Tyson was at the peak of his career in the 90’s but in 2003 he filed for bankruptcyand is reportedly millions of dollars in debt to the IRS. Tyson claimed he’ll never be wealthy again and all his money goes straight to the federal government. It may appear that Pacquiao understands the financial woes from the former athlete or just simply doesn’t like paying taxes. (That’s far cry from what Mike Tyson thinks) Either way the reason why Manny Pacquiao has decided not to hold his boxing event in the United States is because of incentives to pocket more money.

Athletes are typically slammed with dozens of tax jurisdictions to file so even the smallest incentives can mean a lot. The quarterback for the New York Giants football team, Eli Manning, lives in New Jersey to avoid living in New York and paying a higher rate of taxes. Looking at incentives, It might be easy to see why Lebron James decided to play in Florida over New York because of Florida’s no state income tax policy and by picking Florida, James has reportedly saved $25 million. These athletes are given multi-million dollar contracts so it should be noted that the states with no income tax will naturally attract more athletes than those that have a high rate, same thing applies to why Pacquiao isn’t fighting in the US – taxes.

Even Phil Mickleson, PGA golfer, has suggested moving out of California because of the high taxes. This is simply people operating off incentives and choosing options that lead to less of a tax burden. At least in the case of the PGA golfer, the money stays in the United States. The United States will always hold host to the Super Bowl and World Series, but if boxers begin to realize they’ll make more money overseas, what impact will that have on the future of international sporting events in the United States?

This act might start the migration of the American left to China although the American left stands against wealth and prosperity there is the tendency of theirs to follow the money for example California. One way we can defeat China without firing a shot is to export elements of the American left. They have never known how to build a country but they sure know how to destroy a nation on the foundation of pride, envy, sloth, and ignorance.

It appears President Obama's strategy in the debt ceiling talks has been to do 4 things:
Increase Uncle Sam's credit limit by enough to get past reelection.
Pose as a fiscal centrist.
Neuter the GOP on taxes.
Thwart real entitlement reforms.
Until two days ago, his strategy was working.

Since the 1890s The United States has led the world in manufacturing. For more than a century, America has consistently produced more manufactured goods, measured in dollar value of goods produced, than any other nation.

Texas lawmakers are including an Internet sales tax provision in SB1, a revenue generating bill; defying Governor Rick Perry’s veto on the Internet sales tax bill last month. Governor Perry has stated that he strongly disagrees with the provision and wants it removed.
“I urge lawmakers to remove the Internet sales tax language from SB1.

Tennessee lawmakers are pushing SB 0529, which would force Internet retail giant Amazon to collect state sales taxes that would be passed along to consumers. Amazon has threatened not to build planned distribution centers in Tennessee if the measures are put in place; they have already left Illinois, South Carolina and are threatening to leave Texas for similar legislation.